Chapter 14 - Risk Assessment of Antimicrobial Resistance

Abstract

The possible contribution of foodborne antimicrobial resistance to antimicrobial drug resistance in human medicine continues to raise concern among the public, the food industry, and public health organizations. Antimicrobial resistance can become a complicating factor in infections or contamination by pathogens or it can be introduced through commensal organisms to potentially impact adverse health outcomes that are quite removed from the initial foodborne exposure. The wide variety of resistance mechanisms, the differences among host ranges, and the variety of uses of food animal and human uses of antimicrobial drugs create a rich complexity for risk assessments. Thus, risk assessments to date are nearly unique in their overall methods, favoring a principles-driven mode of analysis. This chapter discusses the principles for risk assessment as applied to antimicrobial resistance risk analysis.